Footsie trouble

Former San Gabriel Mayor Albert Huang may have resigned earlier this week following his arrest for charges of robbery, assault, and battery of his alleged girlfriend — but the accusations keep coming. The City Council limited foot massage parlor licenses in October of 2009, but his alleged girlfriend's parlor received permission just before the ban went into effect. Although the San Gabriel city government claims that the approval of Li Ren Massage's business license went through legal process and was totally legitimate, local residents and business owners told the World Journal they think it's too much of a "coincidence."

"We feel that the mayor took special care of his girlfriend's foot massage parlor. It's unfair," an owners of another massage businesses told the World Journal.

Janet Sherman, revenue collector for the City of San Gabriel, confirmed they have stopped releasing licenses since Oct. 20, 2009, according to the World Journal. In a recent City Council meeting, they decided to extend the regulation for one more year until August 2011.

According to city records, World Journal reports, four new foot massage parlors received licenses from January 2009 to October 2010. One of them is "Li Ren Food Massage," owned by "Chen, Lu," Huang's alleged female friend, which received its license two months before the ban went into effect.

Mark Gallatin from San Gabriel's community development department told the World Journal that all the parlors that got business licenses in the past year had submitted their application before the new regulation. These applications were evaluated by the community development department first and the city council makes the final decision based on the department's suggestions. According to Gallantin, "Li Ren Foot Massage," received a license as foot massage equipment retailer on Aug. 10, 2009, and re-opened as a massage parlor on Sept. 13, 2009 with both foot massage and full-body massage licenses.